REEL REVIEWS COLUMN: Try lesser-known gems
By JAMIE ANNEL
We've all been there. You go to the video store, looking for a good movie, but the popular films have all been rented out. However, there's still hope. Try one of these lesser-known gems:
"Defending Your Life" (1991). This fantasy is writer/director Albert Brooks' view of what happens after we die. Brooks plays Daniel; a somewhat arrogant executive who crashes his BMW into a bus while fiddling with his CD player. His spirit is sent to Judgement City, wherein he will go on trial, literally, to justify his previous life.
While there, Daniel also falls in love with the beautiful and saintly Julia (Meryl Streep), who died rescuing her children from a house fire. Will these two end up going on to the spiritual next level together? Of course the answer would be obvious in a predictable romantic comedy, but Brooks takes a conventional, boy-meets-girl story and surrounds it with an extremely inventive and original plot.
"Radio Inside" (1994). William McNamara plays Matthew, a young man who moves to Miami to live with his brother (Dylan Walsh) after their father's death and ends up falling in love with his brother's girlfriend (Elisabeth Shue).
The center of this sweet film is McNamara's wonderful performance as a kid prone to daydreaming and talking to Jesus. Walsh also gives a strong supporting performance as the brother.
"The Mighty" (1998). This is another sweet movie, this time about the friendship between two young outcasts. Kevin (Kieran Culkin) is a brilliant boy who is somewhat limited by his disability, and Max (Elden Henson), his next door neighbor, is built like a linebacker but is not considered very bright.
However, when they team up together (Kevin supplies the brain and Max supplies the legs) they become a force to be reckoned with. Despite the somewhat cliched plot, this film avoids sentimentality and features strong performances, with Henson being the standout.
The key to picking out good films at the video store is to look around in sections other than "New Releases." And take a chance; there are excellent films out there that may not always get the attention they deserve.